This fun fortune telling game became popular in the United States in the 1960s where it was called a cootie catcher. In the 1950s, these shapes became known and used as fortune tellers by children in England. The pockets could then be used to hold bits of food. It was called a salt cellar because this piece could be placed on a table, point ends down, with the four pockets showing.
This origami shape was called a “salt cellar” when it was introduced in 1928 to England. There you have it the “cootie” catcher! Backstory of The Cootie Catcher The child would then pretend to catch bugs, such as lice (ewwwww). Though mostly used to tell fortunes, the child could use this piece of origami as pincers. The person telling the fortune manipulates the cootie catcher based on the choices the other player makes until one final hidden message is revealed when the last flap is opened. There are eight flaps to write options for a player to choose from. If you were lucky, like me, and you had real origami paper, you would just skip that step. Kids would take sheets of 8 ½” x 11” inch paper and fold and cut a portion off to make a perfect square. If you missed out on this childhood fun, I’ll fill you in (and you must check out the links below and try it at least once)!! It became a passionate young teen hobby of mine one I hoped each of my children would enjoy, Personally, I couldn’t get enough of origami. I remember the perfectly square, colorful thin paper that my grandma bought for me as a gift. These were our first introductions to origami, which I later loved to create. We called them cootie catchers and fortune tellers, but they are also known as chatterboxes, salt cellars, whirlybirds, and paku-paku. The Cootie Catchers seemed to multiply in our house, with subjects ranging from future wealth to future careers. And THEN my now 15 year old brought them home with her back when she was younger! Then I had flashbacks when my now 24 year old daughter came home from elementary school with some of them, begging to tell me my fortune over and over and over.
Write your secret messages….I remember making these fun Cootie Catchers, a form of origami used as a childhood game, back when I was in school. The four corners should naturally start to pop out – this is where you put your thumbs and index fingers.ġ1. Fold the fortune teller in half along the horizontal line, as shown.ĩ & 10. Fold the fortune teller in half along the vertical line, as shown.Ĩ. Fold the first corners into the centre.Ħ. Fold the first corners into the centre (be as accurate as you can).Ĥ.
How to Use Your Origami Paper Fortune Teller Step 1: Your little one should choose one of the colors listed on the square. Slide your thumbs and pointer fingers under the squares to operate the fortune teller. Cut carefully around the outside of the templates.ģ. Fold the fortune teller in half so the numbers face in and the square flaps are on the outside. Set your printing preferences to ‘text and image’ or ‘photo’. It seems that fruity designs are everywhere at the moment – look out for more fruity DIY’s and a fruit related crafty envy post next week.ġ. (By the way my colours are pink, purple, red and orange – represented by the fruit!). If you are not sure how to use a paper fortune teller then check out this video by Liam. I’ve designed this fruity version if you want to have a go! I’ve left the message area blank – it’s more fun to write your own I think! I’ve been making them with my little ones lately and they like them as much as I do. Remember these? I used to spend loads of time as a kid making paper fortune tellers.